Universal chair



y 1956 L. s. LOESCHNIGG ET AL ,746,52

' UNIVERSAL CHAIR Filed June 1, 1954 Z /4 60 50 26 /a r, 22

4/40/5400; 5. ZOESCHN/GG; /6 HFNS' u. Fa

chair.

2,746,526 7 UNIVERSAL cH'ArR' Ladislaus S. Loeschnigg and Hans J. Folk,

, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application June 1, 1954, Serial No. 433,556

3 Claims. (Cl. 155-127) Our present invention relates to chairs to be used for reading and working and particularly relates to'chairs which may be alternatively used as arm chairs or work chairs having a table in front of the personsitting in the Also, it relates to chairs which have compartments in the arms into which may bestowed lamps, books, food and drink compartments and thelike, with removable coverings for such compartments. v

It is wellknown in the art to provide arm chairs. Also, it is known in the art to provide arm chairs having compartments with hinged covers. a

2,746,526 Patented May 22 1956 "ice and seat cushion 12 for our chair. The back'cushion 7 10 can be folded into a substantially horizontal position Similarly the art shows various combinations of chairs and stationary reading lamps.

Likewise the art shows various chairs having parts which can beused to write upon.

It has long beena problem in the art to provide an attractive piece of furniture which has the appearance of an ordinary comfortable arm chair and yet which can be converted into a Work table when occasion arises.

It is therefore an object of our present invention to provide a suitable arm chair which has the general appearance of an ordinary deep lounge chair butwhich may be converted either into a work table or a reading chair or even into a chaise longue or bed if occasion requires.

Another object of our invention is to provide a chair in which an element may be alternatively rotated to serve as an arm rest or as a work table.

It is another object of our invention to provide a comfortable lounge chair having a rotatable member which may be alternatively locked or engaged in positionIto serve as a work table or to serve as an arm rest or to serve as a cover for a storage compartment for lamps, food, books and the like.

Other objects and advantages of our present invention will become apparent from the following description and claims, the novelty of our invention consisting in the features of construction, the combinations of parts, the novel relations of the members and the relative proportioning, disposition and operation thereof, all as is more completely described herein, and as is more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of our present application, p

Figure l is a perspective view of the preferred embodi ment of our chair embodying the principles of our invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of our chair that is shown in Figure l with the pivoted members rotated in position as a table.

Figure 3 is a plan view of our chair as shown in Figure 1 with the pivoted members rotated into position as arms.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the lines 4 4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the lines I 5-5 of Figure 4.

Referring to our drawings we provide a back cushion to combine with cushion 12 in order to make a couch or bed.

Arms 14 and 1 6 are provided and these may be hollow to receive lamps, books, food, liquor and the like.

Arms 14 and 16 each have a front wall 18 and a back wall 20.

Arm 14 has a side wall 22 and arm 16 has a side wall 24. Arm 14 has a sliding top 26 and arm 16 has a similar sliding top 28.

Sliding top 26 has a groove 30 and a tongue 32 is grooves 1 provided in sliding top 28, these tongues and being of substantially reciprocal proportions. v Tongue 34, similar to tongue 32 is provided to fit groove 30 and a groove 36, similar to groove 30, is provided tofit tongue 32. p v

Arm 14 has a'pivoted top '38 which has a tongue 34, made to fit groove 30 in sliding top 26 and arm' 16 has a pivoted top 40 that is provided with g'roove'36 to fit tongue 32in slidingtop 2 8. v V v '9 Ways 42 are mounted on the. inside of sidewalls 22 and 24 and slides 44 are mounted on the jundersides of sliding tops 26 and 28 so as toslide in these Ways 42.

Abutting surfaces 46 are provided to serve as stops for slides 46 to arrest the sliding movement'of tops 26 and 28 at the desired position and prevent these tops 26 and 28 from sliding out of engagement with the chair. Shelf 48'is integrally mounted on the inside of front Walls 18'toreceive pivot bolt 50 which is mounted between shelf 48 and pivoted tops 38 and 40; a i P A retainer 52 is mounted on the bottom of :pivoted tops 38 and 40 to frictionally engage bearing 54 which is mounted on the top of shelf 48. A nut 56 is screwed onto the outer end of pivot bolt 50 in order to tighten the frictional engagement between retainer 52 and bearing 54 sufliciently to produce the desired freedom of rotation of pivoted tops 38 and 40.

A suitable female snap member 58 is attached to the underside of pivoted tops 38 and 40 to engage a reciprocal male snap member 60 mounted on side walls 22 and 24 in order to hold pivoted tops 38 and 40 in their arm rest positions so that they may be locked there by sliding action of sliding tops 26 and 28.

A lamp 62 is indicated as mounted in the hollow section of arm 16 in such a manner that it can be raised into the reading position shown in Figure 1 or lowered into a storing position where it can be covered when pivoted top 40 is rotated into the closed or arm position shown in Figure 3.

We will now describe our preferred method of operating our chair invention.

Starting with my chair in the operative position shown in Figure 1 itis presumed that the user is seated in the chair in the position shown in Figure l. Lamp 62 is elevated to its operative position to shine on any work that may be located on the table formed by the juncture of pivoted tops 38 and 40. Also the hollow opening of arm 14 is exposed by the position of pivoted top 38 so that any 1 work operating position shown in Figure 1 to its rest position shown in Figure 3 he merely pushes. pivoted tops 38 and 40 outwardly and they move freely on their respective pivot bolts 50 due to the diagonal engagement between tongue 34 and groove 36 at the extremities of w these pivoted top members 38 and 40.

When these pivoted tops are opened to the dotted line Q position shown in Figure 2,'the owner canget up out of the chair to perform the additional operations in conure 1 to the rest position shown in Figure 3. This next operation is to lower lamp 62 into its stored position within the hollow part of arm 16. k V

Then. he retracts slidingtops 26 and 28 which slide bac kwardly due to the inner engaging construction of ways 42 and slides 44 shown in Figure 5 and described above. This outward movement continues until it is arrested by abutting surfaces 46 which serve as stops to prevent sliding tops 26 and 23 from moving out of engagement and falling on the floor.

When the sliding tops 26 .and 28 are in this position our pivoted tops 38 and 40;can be rotated easily about their pivot bolts 50 until snap members 58 and 60 engage andhold the pivoted top members 38 and 40 in the closed position shown in Figure 3.

Then it is necessary only to slide the sliding top members 26and 23 gforwardly until groove 30 in sliding top 26 engages tongue 34 in pivoted top 38 and tongue 32 in sliding top 28 engages groove 36 in pivoted top 40.

- Due to oblique line of engagement thus provided between the respective sliding tops andtheir cooperating pivoted tops the tongue and groove engagement prevents the pivoted tops 38 and 40 from coming out of the position shown in Figure 3' as long as sliding tops 26 and 28 are in their closed position.

If it is desired; a suitable lock means 64 may be provided to lock slidingtops 26 and 28 in this closed position as is indicated in Figure 4 of the drawings.

, *It isto be understood that the form of our invention herein shown and described is our preferred embodiment and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangementof parts may be resorted to without departing from our invention, or the scope of our appended claims.

' p We claim:

1. A chair including a pair of hollow arm members open attheir tops,'a pair of pivoted top members for said arm members, a pair of sliding top members for said arm members mounted to the rear of the respective said pivoted top members and operative engaging means on the swinging end of each of said pivoted top members for alternatively engaging theother pivoted top member and the respective said sliding top member.

2. A chair including a pair of hollow arm members open at theirtops, a pivoted top member for each of said arm members and a sliding top member mounted on each of said arm members to the rear of its respective said pivoted top member, each of said sliding top members being operatively engageable with its respective said pivoted top member'for holding said moving members over the tops of said arm members.

3. A chair including a pair of hollow arm members open at their tops, a pivoted top member rotatably mounted on each of said arm members, a tongue on the swinging end of one of said pivoted top members, a reciprocal groove on the swinging end of the other of said pivoted top members, a sliding top member on each 7 of said arm members to the rear of the respective said pivoted top member and a reciprocal tongue or groove on the forward sliding end of each of said sliding top members operatively alternatively engageable with the reciprocal tongue or groove on the swinging end of its associated pivoted top member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Himes Aug. 28, 

